Cabot Cliffs: Cliffs Residences, Halfway Hut and Pro Shop

Cabot Cliffs: Cliffs Residences, Halfway Hut and Pro Shop
© Doublespace Photography Younes Bounhar

Cabot Cliffs: Cliffs Residences, Halfway Hut and Pro Shop

FBM Architecture | Interior Design | Planning

LEAD ARCHITECT
Susan Fitzgerald

INTERIOR DESIGN
Jill Greaves Design Inc.

TECHNICAL TEAM
Stephen Hewitson, Ben Griffiths, Shawn Doyle, Danny Goodz

DESIGN TEAM
Peter Kolodziej, Kaitlyn Labrecque, Alicia Mcdowell, Stavros Kondeas, Rita Wang

ENGINEERING & CONSULTING > CIVIL
Strait Engineering Ltd.

ENGINEERING & CONSULTING > STRUCTURAL
Bmr Structural Engineering

GENERAL CONSTRUCTING
Lindsay Construction, D.j. Maclean & Sons Contracting Ltd.

ENGINEERING & CONSULTING > ELECTRICAL
Mcw Consultants Ltd.

ENGINEERING & CONSULTING > MECHANICAL
Cbcl Limited, Mcw Consultants Ltd.

ENGINEERING & CONSULTING > OTHER
Janega Engineering

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
Outside! Planning & Design Studio

YEAR
2023

LOCATION
Inverness, Canada

CATEGORY
Mixed Use Architecture, Houses

Located on the rugged west coast of Cape Breton Island, overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence with tumbling sandy cliffs, and sweeping ocean views, Cabot Cliffs is among the most celebrated golf destinations in the world.

Cabot Cliffs: Cliffs Residences, Halfway Hut and Pro Shop
© Doublespace Photography Younes Bounhar
Cabot Cliffs: Cliffs Residences, Halfway Hut and Pro Shop
© Doublespace Photography Younes Bounhar

Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw crafted this walking-only course in the dramatic landscape to experience the topography, views, vegetation, and wind, in tandem with the game itself.

The design of such a course demands a profound sensitivity to the terrain; and the architecture at Cabot Cliffs echoes this sentiment with its relationship between landscape, building, and human play.

Cabot Cliffs: Cliffs Residences, Halfway Hut and Pro Shop
© Doublespace Photography Younes Bounhar
Cabot Cliffs: Cliffs Residences, Halfway Hut and Pro Shop
© Doublespace Photography Younes Bounhar

The brief for the project was to design eight seasonal holiday homes with 4–5-bedroom suites, a Halfway Hut to provide refreshment along the course, and a Pro Shop.

To allow for the seamless addition of future programs, an incremental and adaptable approach to the architecture was adopted.

Cabot Cliffs: Cliffs Residences, Halfway Hut and Pro Shop
© Doublespace Photography Younes Bounhar
Cabot Cliffs: Cliffs Residences, Halfway Hut and Pro Shop
© Doublespace Photography Younes Bounhar

This allows for a sustainable model of growth—both economically and ecologically—while offering flexibility and diversity within the architecture without repetition.

A matrix of typological forms was developed to create a kit of parts comprised of single-story gabled sheds, bedrooms and kitchen/living/dining rooms joined together by flat interstitial roofs.

The forms are arranged in various combinations and orientations, creating unique dwellings that sit playfully on the site while remaining similar in materiality and scale. 

Cabot Cliffs: Cliffs Residences, Halfway Hut and Pro Shop
© Doublespace Photography Younes Bounhar
Cabot Cliffs: Cliffs Residences, Halfway Hut and Pro Shop
© Doublespace Photography Younes Bounhar

Cedar shingle walls and galvalume roofs scatter across the sand dune and fescue grass landscape. The result is a village, rooted within the vernacular forms of Nova Scotia.

The fractal arrangement of the forms betrays the intimacy of each dwelling. The houses’ interiors offer a rich spatial experience where the corridors linking spaces expand into full-height gabled volumes that bring daylight into gathering and sleeping spaces.

The communal kitchen/living/dining areas create dynamic social spaces while each home is oriented to provide spectacular (and private) viewing. Fireplaces emanate warmth, their black masonry punctuating the landscape and linking the earth to the vast sky.

The planting around the homes is an extension of the links landscape and is considered part of the larger ecosystem, proactively mitigating coastal dune erosion by using marram grass for land stabilization.

Cabot Cliffs: Cliffs Residences, Halfway Hut and Pro Shop
© Doublespace Photography Younes Bounhar
Cabot Cliffs: Cliffs Residences, Halfway Hut and Pro Shop
© Doublespace Photography Younes Bounhar

Drought-tolerant fescue grass reduces the need for intensive irrigation. Watering is performed by hand. The attention of Cabot to land, water, wildlife, and other natural resources through environmental stewardship has been recognized through the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses.

Cabot Cliffs has always been about celebrating the simple joys of fresh air, nature, views, and play. These single-storey buildings spill outside making each structure ‘in’ and ‘of’ the landscape and blurring the boundary between inside and outside.

The modern aesthetic of the homes underscores the idea that a large house can still feel like an airy seaside cottage and, when combined thoughtfully, creates a village at the edge of the ocean.

Cabot Cliffs: Cliffs Residences, Halfway Hut and Pro Shop
© Doublespace Photography Younes Bounhar